The Huntsville Housing Authority found high levels of radioactive gas inside more than 60 public housing units last fall but never told the tenants they were breathing cancer-causing radon.

Residents of Butler Terrace Addition knew nothing until reporters from AL.com and its affiliate, The Oregonian/OregonLive, made contact with some of them last week.

“Had you not come by, I would have never known,” said one tenant, a mother, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal from housing officials.

“It’s ridiculous,” she added. “It’s unfair. And I just have to sit here breathing it in.”

The housing authority confirmed it failed to share its testing results with residents but said it has already begun repair work to lower radon levels in a handful of units. Officials also confirmed no other public housing developments have been tested.

“This is not something anyone can fix overnight,” Sandra Eddlemon, the agency’s executive director, wrote in an email. “I will tell you that we are working with a contractor concerning mitigation and any vacant units testing above the acceptable level are not being filled.”

Eddlemon, who declined to be interviewed, said in a statement that officials did not want to alarm residents until a plan is in place to fix the problem.

Eddlemon said a contractor has already installed a ventilation system in one building but it lowered radon levels in only five of six units. The contractor is now working on a revised plan “to reduce the levels in all of the apartments," she added.

“We feel it is important to inform them of the radon levels we found, but that it is equally important to let them know how we plan to address it for them,” she wrote. “What we don’t want to do is incite fear with this information and not be able to present a resolution.”

The results of Huntsville’s testing validated findings from an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive and AL.com, which exposed how federal and local housing officials nationally have failed to protect low-income tenants. The findings included independent testing by reporters showing high levels of radon in apartments at the complex that the housing authority hadn’t tested since the 1990s.

The fact that Huntsville officials had documented proof of problems came to light only this month, when the newsroom obtained testing results in response to a public records request.

The documents show that officials found high radon at Butler Terrace Addition in 66 of 108 tests, a startlingly high rate. In some units, the level of radioactivity detected was many times the amount set by federal standards.

One of those apartments belongs to Latoya Jemes.

“This is a health hazard,” Jemes said. “I have three small kids. I hope they fix it soon or move us.”

Jemes’ apartment tested nearly 3 ½ times the level that the federal government says should be fixed. She learned about her radon results from a reporter at AL.com, which partnered with The Oregonian/OregonLive’s investigation.

“They should be held responsible,” Jemes said of the housing authority. “We could get sick.”

Radon is a naturally occurring gas that seeps from the ground and can pool at high levels inside homes. It is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in America, estimated to kill 21,000 annually.

Recognizing the threat, Congress in 1988 directed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to protect public housing tenants from exposure. But HUD did not mandate testing by local housing authorities and waited until 2013 to begin encouraging it.

The Oregonian/OregonLive surveyed 64 housing authorities across the country and found fewer than one-third could produce testing records. Among those was Huntsville, where officials said they tested for radon in the early 1990s and installed removal systems for units with problems.

As part of the investigation, reporters from AL.com visited Butler Terrace and Butler Terrace Addition to conduct independent testing. Reporters recorded high levels in a sampling of seven units in 2018, and shared those results within two weeks with the tenants who remained at the complex.

The Oregonian/OregonLive presented its findings to the housing authority on Sept. 19.

Eddlemon, in her statement, questioned why The Oregonian/OregonLive didn’t share its investigative findings earlier with the housing authority.

“We’ve had about five months since we learned about it, and we’ve been steadily working with experts on testing and on ways to mitigate the radon levels for our families,” she wrote. “Just as it takes time to put together an investigative news story, it takes time for us to investigate and put a plan of action into place.”

When The Oregonian/OregonLive did share its results with Eddlemon last September, she did not respond to six emails, replying Oct. 7 only after a reporter started contacting board members. The housing authority also launched testing of 10 locations and confirmed high radioactivity in three, according to reports dated Oct. 10.

Eddlemon at the time would not agree to be interviewed or answer written questions, including whether officials would test. “Our residents are very important to us,” she said in a brief statement after testing had secretly begun.

Huntsville later completed an additional 98 tests, finding high radioactivity in 63, according to a Nov. 11 report.

The highest test recorded radon at six times the federal action level.

Eddlemon did not disclose those results when the newsroom again contacted her prior to publishing its yearlong investigation in November. Eddlemon did not respond to three inquires afterward about whether the housing authority was considering radon testing.

Delvin Sullivan, chairman of the housing authority’s board of directors, told The Oregonian/OregonLive in December “there’s a lot of energy being put into this so these folks are safe.” But Sullivan said he did not have details and referred questions to Eddlemon.

Huntsville’s testing results should have prompted swift action, said Kyle Hoylman, a board member for the national radon-testing trade group, the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists.

He said about half of the units in Huntsville produced high enough radon levels that typically warrant repairs automatically, without any need for further testing to corroborate the initial results, while others could be checked again.

But Hoylman said that testing already should have happened.

“Certainly that’s not something you want to see drug out over four, five, six months,” he said of re-testing. “What’s reasonable is typically four to six weeks.”

Reporters from The Oregonian/OregonLive and AL.com spoke with eight families last week who live in units with high radon. All but one requested anonymity for fear of being evicted for speaking out.

“I think it’s crap,” said one woman. “We have children who live out here. We have a right to know.”

Another woman said that the housing authority had told her she’d get her test results back in two weeks. She didn’t.

“If it’s going to make my kids sick,” she said, “something needs to be done.”

The Huntsville Housing Authority has proposed demolishing the complex that comprises Butler Terrace and Butler Terrace Addition, which together total 254 units. Officials recently received a $1.3 million grant to plan the redevelopment effort over the next three years, although it’s unclear when demolition might occur.

The confirmation of high radon at Butler Terrace Addition also raises broader questions about the rest Huntsville’s public housing. Madison County is considered to be at high risk for indoor radon that exceeds the federal action level, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Eddlemon, who is retiring from the housing authority March 2, said no steps have been taken to test other public housing complexes.

“After we address this immediate concern, we will want to look at all of our public housing apartments,” she wrote. “In order to test all of our properties in Huntsville, we will have to go through HUD budget and procurement processes. This all takes time.”

Huntsville’s board of directors is scheduled to meet at noon Monday. The meeting is open to the public.

Residents who want to find out their results can contact reporters Brad Schmidt or Anna Claire Vollers.

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

-- Anna Claire Vollers; avollers@al.com; @acvollers

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